Fire-extinguisher.



I PATENTE) DBC. 1'15,J1903. W'. 0. HLGKOX. FIRE EXTINGUISHBR. APPLGATION FILED SEPT. 18, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented December 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

FIRE-EXTINGUISHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,702, dated December 15, 1903.

Application filed September 18, 1902. Serial No. 123,950. (Nomodel.)

Vin any suitable manner, so as to discharge the acid into the liquid contents of the receptacle, forming by the mixture a fire-extinguishing gas which is discharged through a pipe or hose.

It is the object of the present invention to improve the details of construction so far as the acid-bottle is concerned with its immediate support and to combine with mechanical action an automatic action, all of which I more particularly set forth hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a View, partly in section, showing my iniproved apparatus. Figs. 2 and 3 are details of the cage holding the-acid-bottle.

A represents the tank or receptacle, of any ordinary construction, shape, or size. The cage for the acid-bottle is detachably supported from the cap a. by means of hooks b, depending from the cap and engaged by hooks c, `forming the upper ends of two members of the cage, as shown in Fig. 2. The cage consists of an annular upper and lower portion d, connected by vertical pieces c. As shown in Fig. 3, the bottom of the cage, formed to support the bottle, terminates in a series of points centrally arranged, and in the opening between them the tapering end of the acid-bottle f extends. This bottle is made of glass or liltematerial, and it Willthusbe seen that the coni-cal end of this bottle is directly supported upon the four points g, so that a very slight blow tends to fracture the bottle and release its contents. In order to prevent the glass of the fractured bottle from passing into the tank and to avoid the possibility of the glass clogging the discharge-pipe, I surround the cage with a Wire-netting h, as shown in Fig. l, preferably soldering this netting to the bars of the cage, thus adding materially to the strength of the structure. The

A ards.

netting as it passes around the bottom of the cage is depressed slightly, as` shown at c', in order to free the projecting point of the bottle and to avoid being punctured thereby. The bottle is broken by downward pressure applied through the plungerk, of any suitable shape. This plunger is manipulated by means of a handle @which is held up normally by a spring m. By pressure applied by 'the hand to this plunger the bottle is forced down against the points g and broken. This is the action when the extinguisher is to be operated by hand. It is desirable, however, to have an extinguisher capable of automatic action, and I have devised asimple construc- Vtion, so that my invention is not only adapted for manual action, but for automatic action as well.

To effect the automatic operation, I provide a standard n, secured to one side of the receptacle, and upon the opposite side I support a second standard, as in guides p, the lower end of the standard being supported by a bracket q of fusible material. Between the standards fn, and o is a lever s, this lever being secured to the ends of the two stand- The lever is lperforated centrally to allow the passage therethrough ofV the stem of the handle Z, the lever s supporting the 'spring m. The lever is held up by its connection vwith the standards n `and o, but is under the tension of a strong spring t, so that just as soon as the temperature rises above the fusing-point of the support g spring t operates to draw down the end of the lever s quickly, and this pressure being brought to bear on the plunger le forces the bottle against the points g and fractures the bottle.

I utilize the usual discharge-pipe o and connect a hose w thereto. When, however, it is desired to utilize the automatic action, I provide for this by putting a three-way cock in the discharge-pipe, so as to divert the gaseous contents from the hose w to any suitable sprayer or distributor,(represented at y.) It will thus be seen that by turning the threeway cock to the discharge may be through the hose or through the sprayer, as desired.

It will be observed that the hooks c are formed With square bearing-surfaces to engage with corresponding surfaces on the lugs or hooks b, depending from the cap. In at- ICO taching the cage the hooks c passup alongside of the lugs b until the lower ends of the hooks c are in line or slightly above the surfaces of the lugs b. The cage is then given a turn until the recesses of the hooks c are directly over the right-angular extensions of the lugs b, after which the cage is lowered and the hooks c engage the lugs, forming a secure connection, preventing turning and swinging, but at the same time making a readily removable connection.

I claiml. A fire-extinguisher comprising a tank, an acid-container therein and manually and automatically actuated means for discharging the acid from the container into the tank, the said manually-operating means being capable ofoperation independently of the automatic means and both the manually-operating and the automatic means acting upon the acid-coutainer,substantially as described.

2. In combination, a container, an acidholder, a hand-operated plunger for breaking the acid-holder and automatically-operating means for the said plunger, said plunger being capable of manual operation independent 'of the automatically-operating means, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a container, au acidholder, a plunger for breaking the acid-holder, a pressure-lever in connection with the plunger, fusible means controlling the level' and a spring for holding the plunger up, said plunger being capable 0f operation independent of the lever, substantially as described.

4. In a chemical fire-extinguisher, an acidcontainer, a plunger, a handle therefor, and a lever normally held up bya fusible connection and adapted to actuate the plunger automatically, the said plunger being manually operated by the said handle, substantially as described.

5. In combination in a fire-extinguisher, an

, acid-container having a tapering lower end,

a series of bars radiating from the said tapered lower end and extending thence upwardly to form a cage, a pair of said bars having oppositely-directed hooks on their upper ends, hooks on the casing to engage those of the cage and a plunger for forcing the acidcontainer against the radiating bars, substantially as described.

6. In combination in a fire-extinguisher, an acid-container having a tapering lower end, a series of bars radiating from the said tapered lower end and extending thence upwardly to form a cage, a pair of said bars having oppositely-directed hooks on their up- `Yper ends, hooks on the casing to engage those of the cage and a-plunger for forcing the acidcontainer against the radiating bars and a wire-netting surrounding the cage, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof` I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WM. C. HICKOX.

Witnesses:

F. L. MIDDLETON, EDW. L. REED. 

